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Cedric Bosch, a young mechanical engineer, garage junkie, and cycling enthusiast talks project logistics with Herdsurf. Cedric came up for the idea behind Rideye after his good friend was critically injured in a hit and run bicycle accident involving a vehicle. Cedric set out to create a “black box” for the bicycle which records a ride in a 120 degree wide-field of view on a device which connects to a computer. According to Cedric is has become easier then ever for workshop engineers such as himself to create and test their products. He specifically mentions the Arduino open-source circuit board as a major contributing factor for prototyping the Rideye. During his 35 day Kickstarter campaign, Cedric was able to raise $83,972, receiving the support of 558 backers and winning the hearts of cycling lovers across the country. In this exclusive Herdsurf interview, Cedric reveals the struggles of his first project, the techniques he used to gain support and where he hopes to take his product. It wasn’t easy for Cedric, he was running a one man operation while working a full time job. Given that he comes from an engineering background, Cedric says that the biggest challenge he had to overcome was learning to market and sell his product. We had a great time chatting with Cedric and we hope all of you enjoy this interview!

The main points from his interview:
- Make a high quality product first, then focus on the campaign. If you have a high quality product it will lead to a successful campaign.
- Bloggers want to be the first to break a story so be aggressive with bloggers and send them several emails if they don’t respond. Cedric recommends pitching on Tuesday, giving you enough time to follow up later in the week.
- Have your suppliers lined up prior to the campaign. If you wait until after the campaign, it will not only effect the delivery time of your product but the costs of your product may change as well.
- Estimating the costs can be difficult. To decide on his funding goal, Cedric first estimated the amount of units he expected to sell (500). He then broke down his device into components and got manufacturing quotes for each of those
components. Lastly, he added shipping costs, taxes for foreign countries, miscellaneous overhead, as well as Kickstarter and payment fees.
- For those who are intimidated with the video, Cedric recommends keeping it simple and focus on what you are good at. Having a simple video which explained the manufacturing process of his device helped Cedric add legitimacy to his
campaign and gain the support of the maker community.
- As far as duration, Cedric states that if this is your first campaign you should aim to make it around 40 days. This gives you enough time to adjust the campaign management and sending out all the promotional material.

A lot nof good advice in this interview. My question to anyone who is interested in answering it is, is it important to have a high quality, professional video done? I have had a few people message me about investing in a microphone and redoing my video. Is it worth the investment? I have been saving all of my money to help fund my project and never thought about this. Any advice is appreciated. Here is my link if you want to take a look and give me your opinion. Thanks!